Officer/Enlisted relationship

Sam,
True enough. But remember, the Grunt Platoon and Company Commanders didn't have to teach their crews how to fly their birds to possibly save everyone's bacon, should the "worst" happen in a hot LZ. A Captain that taught me how to do really good roll on landings from the left seat of a CH-46A called me "Joe" in the cockpit, but it was L/Cpl Reed outside of it, we all knew and respected that. Still, when we saw each other at Santa Ana after RVN, It was "Hey Joe"!!:D Bet I could still do a pretty hot roll on! LOL! It's all good!

This Organization - Popasmoke

From the standpoint of a longtime military helicopter pilot. I always felt that the closeness in the relationship between the pilots and aircrew was because a helicopter is a crew served system. We were in it together. We shared the danger and responsibility to complete the mission safely. They were many times going into tight LZs where the whole crew (both pilots, crew chief and gunner) was absolutely essential to avoid hitting an obstacle and crashing. Likewise, we in the cockpit depended completely on the crew in the back to keep our asses covering with defensive fires and maintaining the aircraft. I, for one, was always thankful to be flying an aircraft with the crew chief a part of the crew, because I know he had a vested interest in keeping me and the aircraft safe.

Thank you Marine!

Paul

This organization...Pop a Smoke

Joe Reed brought up an interesting analogy. All the crew chiefs, gunners, mechs, etal addressed me by my nickname. If there was "brass" around, as well as other officers, I was addressed as "Cpt" nickname. Altho it seemed to disagree w/USMC protocol, my log book(s)will prove as evidence, how such a working (team) effort can produce results. My first ex-wife could never understand my devotion and dedication to the troops, but the troops sure did, and I cannot, in any stretch of the imagination, feel less stronger about the things we were able to do...especially with broke A/C's.

😮

brings back memories of the 'ole corps. i was a sgt. e-5 in jacksonville living in a trailer park with my new wife when one of the troops, don't remember who, came to visit. a grunt e-5 lived next door and advised me later that it was against the ucmj to entertain an e-4. as for the e and o club, i can remember many times i was a guest of the pilot when out on ron and can remember visits from officers at our e club. just a whole darn different marine corps all the way from bloused boots to spit and polish. our spit and polish was reserved for the aircraft with only an occasional junk on the bunk.

The reason...

...I am here to write this and am not yet listed at Arlington Cemetery is because of the bravery and quick thinking of Marines too numerous to list here.

That includes but is not limited to Crew Chiefs, Gunners, Avionics Specialists, Armorers...and the pilot whose call sign ended in "six."

For me, rank is just a pay grade.

From my point of view, everyone I served with is "Sir!" .